Recently a lot of circulating in Indonesia about stem cell therapy to overcome a disease. But what exactly are stem cells and are they special compared to other cells that make up our bodies?
The human body consists of various types of cells such as muscle cells, nerve cells and heart cells. Each type of cell has a different function and shape. All types of cells that make up our bodies can experience aging and then die and must be replaced. The type of cell that is responsible for replacing the cells that make up our body is called a stem cell . Stem cells have a special ability compared to other cells that are able to multiply themselves and have not differentiated. Unlike muscle cells that function in the system of movement of the body, stem cel l have not terprogam into any cell type in the future. It can be assumed like a child who does not know what he will become when he grows up. The ability of stem cells This unique feature is often used to be directed to a special environment so that it can turn into cells that we want so that it can be used to replace damaged cells or tissue.
Figure 1. Stem Cell Characters [1]
Stem cells can be found in several parts of the human body. Based on its differentiation ability, stem cells can be classified into pluripotent and multipotent. Cells that have pluripotent ability can develop into all types of cells that make up the body except the placenta. Examples stem pluripotent cell is a stem cell embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSC). Embryonal stem cells originate from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, which is the embryonic phase which is 4 days after fertilization [2]. In humans, stem cellsembryonal can be obtained from embryos that are “no longer used” in technology in vitro fertilization (IVF). Although the ability of embryonic stem cells is amazing, the use of embryonic stem cells both in research and therapy has a major obstacle, namely ethical issues. Until now there is still much debate about the ethics of using this type of stem cell so that many countries have banned the use of embryonal stem cells.
iPSC is the newest type of stem cell originating from adult cells that have differentiated and then made into stem cells again. The iPSC was first discovered by Yamanaka and was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery. Yamanaka makes stem cells from mouse skin cells by activating Yamanaka factors (Oct3 / 4, Sox2, Klf4, c-Myc) which are mostly activated in embryonal stem cells so that skin cells can have embryonal stem cell capabilities . Unlike embryonal stem cells , iPSC does not stumble many ethical issues so it is expected to be an alternative to using embryonic stem cells .
Stem cells which have multipotent properties means that they can differentiate into a number of cell types not as much as pluripotent. An example is a hematopoetic stem cell which is only able to differentiate into a type of blood cell only. In addition there are mesenchymal stem cells which can be found in various tissues such as fat, Wharton jelly (part of the umbilical cord) of the person giving birth, and from the spinal cord. These stem cells are widely used in research or therapy because they are easily available compared to other types of stem cells .
Stem cells are always identical to animal or human cells. Do plants have stem cells? Based on previous understanding of stem cells , plants also have stem cells. Stem cells in plants are found in meristem tissue, which is tissue in plants consisting of cells that are still young and have not differentiated. In contrast to stem cells in humans, stem cells in plants have totipotential properties that are able to differentiate into cells that make up all organisms. If we cut the meristem tissue and then grow in the appropriate media it can form all complete plant organs. Totipotential ability in humans is only owned by Zygot.
The development and use of stem cells in the health sector has been widely carried out. Stem cells can be used for retinal regeneration therapy [3]. Stem cells are also a source of cells in tissue engineering that are used as an alternative therapy for human prone tissue damage [4].
References:
[1] Kalra, K., & Tomar, P. (2014). Stem cells: basics, classification and applications. American Journal of Phytomedicine and Clinical Therapeutics, 2 (7), 919-930.
[2] Zakrzewski, W., Dobrzyński, M., Szymonowicz, M., & Rybak, Z. (2019). Stem cells: past, present, and future. Stem cell research & therapy, 10 (1), 68.
[3] Oswald, J., & Baranov, P. (2018). Regenerative medicine in the retina: from stem cells to cell replacement therapy. Therapeutic advances in ophthalmology, 10, 2515841418774433.
[4] Wang, SZ, Chang, Q., Kong, XF, & Wang, C. (2015). The chondrogenic induction potential for bone marrow-derived stem cells between autologous platelet-rich plasma and common chondrogenic induction agents: a preliminary comparative study. Stem cells International, 2015.
